Department of Perinatology and Women's Health, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, 60-535 Poznań, Poland.
Department of Medical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614 Poznań, Poland.
Nutrients. 2022 Feb 19;14(4):882. doi: 10.3390/nu14040882.
Since the first reports describing the anti-cancer properties of vitamin C published several decades ago, its actual effectiveness in fighting cancer has been under investigation and widely discussed. Some scientific reports indicate that vitamin C in high concentrations can contribute to effective and selective destruction of cancer cells. Furthermore, preclinical and clinical studies have shown that relatively high doses of vitamin C administered intravenously in 'pharmacological concentrations' may not only be well-tolerated, but significantly improve patients' quality of life. This seems to be particularly important, especially for terminal cancer patients. However, the relatively high frequency of vitamin C use by cancer patients means that the potential clinical benefits may not be obvious. For this reason, in this review article, we focus on the articles published mainly in the last two decades, describing possible beneficial effects of vitamin C in preventing and treating selected malignant neoplasms in women, including breast, cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. According to the reviewed studies, vitamin C use may contribute to an improvement of the overall quality of life of patients, among others, by reducing chemotherapy-related side effects. Nevertheless, new clinical trials are needed to collect stronger evidence of the role of this nutrient in supportive cancer treatment.
自几十年前首次报道维生素 C 具有抗癌特性以来，其在抗癌方面的实际效果一直受到研究和广泛讨论。一些科学报告表明，高浓度的维生素 C 可以有助于有效且有选择性地破坏癌细胞。此外，临床前和临床研究表明，静脉内给予“药理浓度”的相对较高剂量的维生素 C 不仅耐受良好，而且还可显著改善患者的生活质量。这一点似乎尤为重要，尤其是对于晚期癌症患者。然而，癌症患者相对较高的维生素 C 使用率意味着潜在的临床益处可能并不明显。出于这个原因，在这篇综述文章中，我们主要关注过去二十年发表的文章，描述维生素 C 在预防和治疗女性特定恶性肿瘤（包括乳腺癌、宫颈癌、子宫内膜癌和卵巢癌）方面的可能有益作用。根据综述研究，维生素 C 的使用可能有助于通过减少化疗相关的副作用等方式提高患者的整体生活质量。然而，需要开展新的临床试验来收集更多关于这种营养素在癌症辅助治疗中的作用的证据。
